spinning wheel drive ratios

the drive ratio on a spinning wheel represents the number of times the flyer turns in relation to the wheel.

this ratio is determined by the drive band. depending on your wheel's style, the drive band connects the wheel to the flyer, the bobbin, or both. the joy of handspinning website gives a good overview of the three most common types of wheels.

my new wheel is an older ashford traditional, which is a single drive wheel with a scotch tension brake system. this means that the wheel is connected to the flyer, which rotates around the bobbin. the bobbin is held by a separate band in the back and the tensioning knob is rotated (very, very slightly) to brake the bobbin so you can control the speed at which the yarn winds onto the bobbin. i rubbed some candle wax on this wood-to-wood connection to make it a bit smoother.



see the brake band on the left (back of wheel)
and the thicker drive band on the right (front of wheel).



this wheel has a single ratio of 6.5:1. it seems pretty suited for my style: for my first yarn i'm shooting for a 2-ply dk weight - so far, so good. however, i may eventually try to make a bobbin with a much higher ratio (newer ashford traditionals have three ratios, up to 17.5:1) to easily spin finer yarns as well.

to find your wheel's drive ratio:
turn the wheel slowly with your hand for one full rotation, counting the number of rotations the flyer makes.

as an example of what this means, if i were to draft an inch of fiber for every turn the wheel makes, my yarn would have 6.5 twists per inch. the thinner the yarn, the more twist it needs to hold together properly. if i want to spin thinner, i need to either treadle faster or draft slower to increase the drive ratio and give me a higher twist.